This regional Human Development Report makes the case for the integration of risks and for strategies to reduce disaster risks by incorporating the role that people play, both as victims/survivors of disasters and as agents
of change, within development interventions. This proactive approach can be summarized as reducing risks for people and by people. The implications of such a paradigm shift are paramount for the countries of the Western
Balkans, prone as they are to natural and human-made hazards and given their willingness to build on the human potential within their societies. It would help countries safeguard existing and future investment, protect
lives and livelihoods and empower people so that they are able to contribute to risk reduction.

The 2015 National Human Development Report “Growth that works for all” examines how a policy framework based on inclusive growth can offer a pathway to advance human development in Viet Nam - as it enters a new and challenging stage of its development. Using the lens of human development, this report takes a people-centered approach, examining Vietnamese people’s inclusion in the country’s development process since the late 1980s. The report finds that in the early and mid Doi Moi years Viet Nam performed well on both human development and economic growth. Economic expansion was inclusive, with benefits widely distributed and opportunities shared. Yet in recent years, the report finds that Viet Nam’s strong performance has waned, and especially after the 2008 global financial crisis. Growth has fallen and disparities between regions, provinces and population groups have not been closed. While the past growth has brought significant social transformation, evident in the shrinking population shares of the poor and near poor, and the rapid expansion of the lower middle class, those in the middle are far from secure, and those still in poverty are harder to reach, particularly within remote ethnic minority communities.